1. The Committee considered the combined fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh
periodic report of Panama (CEDAW/C/PAN/7) at its 922nd and
923rd meetings on
1 February 2010 (see CEDAW/C/SR.922 and CEDAW/C/SR.923). The
Committee’s list of issues and questions is
contained in CEDAW/C/PAN/Q/7
and the responses of Panama are contained in CEDAW/C/PAN/Q/7/Add.1.

Introduction

2. The Committee expresses its appreciation to the State party for its
combined fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh periodic report,
which followed the
Committee’s previous guidelines for the preparation of reports but it
regrets that the report did not refer
to the previous concluding observations or
the Committee’s general recommendations. It also regrets the absence of
sufficient
statistical data disaggregated by sex on the situation of women, in
particular Afro-descendant and indigenous women, with respect
to all areas
covered by the Convention. The Committee appreciates the frankness of the report
in assessing challenges to the implementation
of the Convention. It regrets,
however, that the absence of regular reports during the period under
consideration made it more difficult
to monitor progress towards the achievement
of gender equality.

3. The Committee commends the State party for its written replies to the list
of issues and questions raised by the pre-session working
group and for the oral
presentation and responses to the questions posed orally by the Committee.

4. The Committee commends the State party for its delegation headed by the
Vice-Minister of Social Development, which included representatives
from the
National Institute for Women and the Ministry of Government and Justice, and for
the open and constructive dialogue that
took place between the delegation and
members of the Committee.

Positive aspects

5. The Committee welcomes the ratification by the State party of the Optional
Protocol to the Convention in 2001.

6. The Committee also welcomes the adoption of Law No. 4 of 29 January 1999,
which established equal opportunities for women and is
based on, inter alia, the
principles of the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of sex and
gender, equality before the law
and the condemnation of any kind of violence
against women.

7. The Committee further welcomes the adoption of a number of legislative
measures aimed at promoting the advancement of women and
gender equality,
including legislative amendments in the areas of electoral law, penal law,
employment and education. It also welcomes
a number of programmes, policies and
plans, including the National Plan for Preventing and Addressing Domestic
Violence and for Civil
Coexistence, aimed at promoting the advancement of women.

8. The Committee commends the establishment, in 2009, of the National
Institute for Women, whose mandate is to coordinate and monitor
compliance with
issues relating to equal opportunities for women and to encourage greater
national awareness of the issue of gender
inequality.

9. The Committee welcomes the ratification by the State party, in 2004, of
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking
in Persons, Especially
Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime.

Principal areas of concern and recommendations

10. While recalling the obligation of the State party to implement all the
provisions of the Convention systematically and continuously,
the Committee
views the concerns and recommendations identified in the present concluding
observations as requiring the priority
attention of the State party.
Consequently, the Committee calls upon the State party to focus on those areas
in its implementation
activities and to report on action taken and results
achieved in its next periodic report. It also calls upon the State party to
submit the present concluding observations to all relevant ministries and other
Government structures at all levels, Parliament and
the judiciary in order to
ensure their effective implementation.

Parliament

11. While reaffirming that the Government has the primary responsibility
and is particularly accountable for the full implementation of
the State
party’s obligations under the Convention, the Committee stresses that the
Convention is binding on all branches of
the Government and invites the State
party to encourage its national Parliament, in line with its mandate and
procedures, where appropriate,
to take the necessary steps with regard to the
implementation of these concluding observations and the Government’s next
reporting
process under the Convention.

Legal framework for equality, non-discrimination and a definition

of discrimination

12. The Committee welcomes Law No. 4 of 1999 and the incorporation into
domestic law of a definition of discrimination in line with
the Convention. The
Committee also welcomes the large number of laws that have been put in place in
the State party to promote gender
equality and non-discrimination. However, the
Committee regrets that many of these laws have not been effectively implemented
in
practice. While welcoming further discussions about femicide in the State
party, the Committee is concerned that it has not been
sufficiently addressed in
criminal and other laws and that there is no reliable data on femicides in the
State party.

13. The Committee recommends that the State party take all necessary
measures and allocate sufficient resources to implement, both de
jure and
de facto, all legal measures aimed at guaranteeing gender equality and
nondiscrimination. In this regard, it calls upon
the State party to allocate
sufficient financial and human resources to monitor and evaluate the
implementation of these legal measures.
The Committee also urges the State party
to take measures to address femicide in the Criminal Code and other relevant
laws within
a clear time frame, and to collect reliable data on femicides.

Visibility of the Convention and Optional Protocol

14. While noting the progress achieved by the State party in strengthening
gender equality and women’s rights in Panama, particularly
by enacting
anti-discrimination legislation, the Committee regrets the insufficient
information provided on women’s use of
existing complaints mechanisms and
the insufficient knowledge of the Convention and the Optional Protocol among all
branches of the
Government, the judiciary, law enforcement officers and women
themselves.

15. The Committee calls upon the State party to undertake all necessary
measures to ensure that the provisions of the Convention are sufficiently
known
and applied by all branches of Government and the judiciary as a framework for
all laws, court decisions and policies on gender
equality and the advancement of
women. It recommends that the State party raise awareness of the Convention
among women themselves,
particularly rural and indigenous women. The Committee
also recommends that the State party make the Convention an integral part
of the
legal education of public officers, to ensure that the spirit, objectives and
provisions of the Convention become well known
and regularly used in judicial
processes. It further recommends that the State party take all appropriate
measures to make the provisions
of the Convention and the Optional Protocol part
of the educational system, at all levels and available in the different
indigenous
languages, so that they are accessible to all women and girls.

Temporary special measures

16. The Committee is concerned that temporary special measures are not
systematically used in the State party as a necessary strategy
for accelerating
the achievement of de facto equality between women and men in all areas of the
Convention. The Committee is also
concerned that the lack of a clear
understanding of temporary special measures and the reason for their application
in line with
article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention, which is directly
applicable in the State party, is hindering the realization of women’s
de
facto equality with men.

17. The Committee encourages the State party to introduce specific
legislation providing for the adoption of temporary special measures
in
accordance with article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention and the
Committee’s general recommendation No. 25 in order to
accelerate the
realization of women’s de facto equality with men in areas in which
women are underrepresented or disadvantaged.
The Committee recommends that the
State party raise public awareness about the direct applicability of article 4,
paragraph 1, of
the Convention, as well as about the importance of temporary
special measures in accelerating the process of achieving gender
equality.

National machinery for the advancement of women

18. The Committee welcomes the establishment of new institutional structures
and mechanisms for the advancement of women such as the
National Institute for
Women, the National Directorate of Women and the National Women’s Council,
which have responsibility
for promoting equality and addressing multiple forms
of discrimination. However, it is concerned about the level of coordination
of
the work of these different bodies and the possible overlap in their work. The
Committee is also concerned that the national machinery
for the advancement of
women may not have sufficient human and financial resources for its effective
functioning.

19. The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen the existing
machinery for gender equality by providing it with adequate
visibility, power
and human and financial resources at all levels, in order to increase its
effectiveness and enhance its capacity
to coordinate and monitor actions at the
national and local levels for the advancement of women and the promotion of
gender equality.
It also recommends that the State party establish clear
functions for each of the institutions in charge of promoting gender equality
and the advancement of women.

Non-governmental organizations

20. While welcoming the presence of an active civil society in the State
party, the Committee is concerned about the limited cooperation
of the
authorities with nongovernmental organizations, in particular women’s
associations, in the implementation of the Convention.
The Committee expresses
concern at the apparent lack of understanding on the part of the State party
about the key role of these
organizations with respect to the implementation of
the Convention and the promotion of gender equality.

21. The Committee urges the State party to cooperate more effectively and
in a systematic manner with non-governmental organizations,
in particular
women’s associations, in the implementation of the Convention. The
Committee further recommends that the State
party consult with non-governmental
organizations during the preparation of the next periodic report.

Stereotypes

22. The Committee reiterates its concern about the persistence of traditional
stereotypes regarding the roles and responsibilities
of women and men in the
family and society, which represents a significant impediment to the
implementation of the Convention and
constitutes a serious obstacle to
women’s enjoyment of their human rights. Furthermore, the Committee is
gravely concerned
that, as acknowledged by the delegation, certain groups of
women, in addition to being affected by gender stereotypes, face multiple
forms
of discrimination and violence on grounds such as sexual orientation and gender
identity. In this regard, the Committee notes
that the communication media in
the State party reinforce images of women as sex objects and also contribute to
different ethnic
prejudices.

23. The Committee urges the State party to increase its efforts to design
and strengthen comprehensive awareness-raising programmes to
foster a better
understanding of, and support for, equality between women and men at all levels
of society. Such efforts should aim
to modify stereotypical attitudes and
cultural norms about the responsibilities and roles of women and men in the
family, workplace,
political life and society, as required under articles 2 (f)
and 5 (a) of the Convention. The Committee also urges the State party
to
transform its recognition of the problem of multiple forms of discrimination
into an overall strategy for eliminating gender stereotypes
relating to women in
general and, in particular, to discrimination against women as specified in
paragraph 22. This strategy could
include awareness-raising programmes in
school curricula, the training of teachers and the sensitization of the media
and the public
at large, including actions specifically targeting men and
boys.

Women in prison

24. The Committee is concerned at the difficult situation faced by women in
prison, particularly with regard to their access to adequate
health facilities
and services. The Committee notes with concern that many women deprived of
liberty face the harmful consequences
of overcrowding, which limits the
effective realization of their basic rights. It is deeply concerned at the
discrimination faced
by these women and at allegations of physical, verbal and
sexual abuse committed against them by police officers.

25. The Committee urges the State party to ensure the provision of
adequate health facilities and services for all women deprived of liberty
in the
country. It also calls upon the State party to take all appropriate measures to
protect women against the negative effects
of overcrowding in prisons and to
step up its efforts to provide professional training and conduct
awareness-raising campaigns for
all professionals working with women deprived of
liberty. The Committee also calls upon the State party to investigate cases of
abuses
committed by police officers and punish the perpetrators of such
crimes.

Violence against women

26. The Committee welcomes the National Plan for Preventing and Addressing
Domestic Violence and for Civil Coexistence, in place since
2004, as an
instrument for overcoming legal, institutional and sociocultural barriers and
addressing the multiple dimensions of domestic
violence. It also welcomes the
recent approval of modifications to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure
Code that provide
new protective measures relating to domestic violence, and
appreciates that the current Administration is committed to preventing
and
addressing the problem of domestic violence. However, the Committee is concerned
at the high prevalence of cases of violence
against women in the State party and
at the lack of adequate services and protection for victims of violence, the
lack of reporting
mechanisms available to victims and the absence of awareness
campaigns to educate women about their rights.

27. The Committee urges the State party to step up its efforts to
effectively implement existing legislative measures and address all
forms of
violence against women, including domestic violence, taking into account the
Committee’s general recommendation No.
19. It also urges the State party
to undertake educational and public-awareness programmes through the media to
convey the message
that all forms of violence against women, including domestic
violence, are unacceptable.

28. The Committee also notes with concern that girls are unprotected from
corporal punishment and abuse when such conduct is considered
to represent a
disciplinary measure.

29. The Committee, in line with the recommendations of the Committee on
the Rights of the Child, urges the State party to include in its
legislation the
prohibition of all forms of corporal punishment of children, particularly of
girls. It also recommends that the State
party raise awareness of the negative
consequences of disciplinary measures on the psychosocial development of
girls.

Trafficking and sexual exploitation

30. The Committee, while welcoming the efforts made by the State party to
investigate the factors, fundamental causes and repercussions
associated with
trafficking in persons and the exploitation of female prostitution, notes with
concern the large number of trafficked
women and girls in the State party and
the very low number of perpetrators who have been prosecuted and punished. The
Committee regrets
a lack of data from the State party regarding trafficking and
sexual exploitation of women and girls and is concerned about the
comprehensiveness
of the new legal framework and its implementation.

31. The Committee calls on the State party to intensify its efforts to
combat all forms of trafficking in women and girls. It also calls
on the State
party to collect and analyse data from the police and international sources,
prosecute and punish traffickers, ensure
the protection of the human rights of
trafficked women and girls and provide for their rehabilitation. The Committee
further calls
on the State party to ensure that trafficked women and girls
receive adequate support so that they are able to testify without fear
against
their traffickers. It encourages the State party to develop awareness-raising
programmes, widen research on the root causes
of trafficking, provide
comprehensive training to, inter alia, judges, lawyers, criminal justice
officers, health-care providers
and law enforcement officials in all matters
concerning sexual exploitation and trafficking, and strengthen bilateral and
multilateral
cooperation with neighbouring States. The State party is requested
to report on the implementation of the new legislation on trafficking,
especially with respect to the prosecution of traffickers.

Political participation and participation in public life

32. While welcoming Law No. 22 of 14 July 1997, which amended the Electoral
Code and established, inter alia, that 30 per cent of
elective positions be held
by women, the Committee is concerned that the steps required to ensure that
political parties comply with
this quota have not been implemented. It is also
concerned at the apparent lack of awareness and interest of political parties in
including more women.

33. The Committee recommends that the State party increase its efforts to
effectively implement Law No. 22 and encourage women’s
participation in
political life. The Committee also suggests that the State party establish
leadership training programmes for women
and carry out awareness-raising
campaigns on the importance of women’s participation in
decision-making.

Education

34. The Committee, while welcoming efforts by the State party to eliminate
illiteracy, including through campaigns such as “Muévete
por
Panamá”, notes with concern the high level of illiteracy among
rural women speaking indigenous languages. The Committee
also notes with concern
that higher education choices continue to reflect stereotypical notions of
appropriate fields of study for
women.

35. The Committee encourages the State party to strengthen its efforts to
eradicate illiteracy, in particular among rural women speaking
indigenous
languages, taking into account the plurality of languages in the country. It
also urges the State party to take measures
and carry out studies with a view to
addressing the root causes of gender discrimination and stereotypical gender
roles in the field
of education, and encourages the State party to strengthen
its efforts to promote the inclusion of women in non-traditional careers.

36. The Committee is concerned at the large number of girls who drop out of
school as a result of early pregnancies and at the lack
of surveys or studies
relating to this problem. It also regrets that, although there is a legal
provision (Law No. 29) mandating
the continuation of education for girls during
and after pregnancy, there is no effective mechanism in place to ensure
compliance
with this law.

37. The Committee recommends that the State party carry out studies or
surveys to analyse the main causes of early pregnancies in the
country and
implement programmes or plans to promote the continuation of studies for girls
who become pregnant. It also recommends
that a strategy for monitoring
compliance with Law No. 29 be implemented in the short term to make it easier
for pregnant girls to
complete their schooling.

Employment

38. The Committee notes with concern that, despite the high level of
education in Panama, many women continue to suffer from higher
rates of
underemployment and unemployment, including in rural areas, and that women are
segregated in employment sectors with low
wages. The Committee is further
concerned at the persistence of a salary gap in the private sector and at
insufficient understanding
of the principle of equal pay for work of equal
value, despite the efforts made by the State party to strengthen the
institutional
capacity for gender mainstreaming. The Committee also notes with
concern that the legal protection of pregnant workers and those
facing sexual
harassment is inadequate and is also concerned at the high level of child labour
among girls in the State party.

39. The Committee calls on the State party to take the necessary measures
to eliminate discrimination in employment and occupational segregation.
The
Committee urges the State party to enact appropriate legislation and measures
that will guarantee the principle of equal pay
for work of equal value, in line
with article 11 (d) of the Convention and Convention No. 100 of the
International Labour Organization.
The Committee requests that the State party
include in its next periodic report sex-disaggregated data on child labour,
wages, and
pension and social security rights. The Committee also urges the
State party to introduce efficient measures to combat sexual harassment
and
guarantee maternity rights.

Health

40. The Committee is concerned at the State party’s insufficient
recognition and protection of women’s sexual health and
reproductive
rights, in particular with regard to the delay in the debate over draft law No.
442 on sexual and reproductive health.
It regrets the lack of access to
information on health-care services provided to adolescent girls, particularly
in rural areas, as
well as the high number of early pregnancies. Furthermore,
the Committee is concerned at the lack of a holistic and life-cycle approach
to
the health of women in the State party.

41. The Committee urges the State party to take the necessary steps to
overcome the stalemate surrounding draft law No. 442 and to promulgate
it as
soon as possible. The Committee also urges the State party to improve family
planning and reproductive health programmes and
policies designed to give women
and adolescent girls, in particular in rural areas, effective access to
information on health-care
services, including reproductive health-care services
and contraception, in accordance with the Committee’s general
recommendation
No. 24 on women and health and the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action. The Committee also recommends that the State party
step up
its efforts to incorporate age-appropriate sex education in school curricula and
organize information campaigns aimed at
preventing teenage pregnancies. It
further recommends that the State party undertake a holistic and life-cycle
approach to women’s
health that includes an intercultural focus.

42. The Committee notes with concern the high rate of maternal mortality in
the State party, caused mainly by the lack of provision
of appropriate medical
care, in particular to rural and indigenous women and adolescents girls. The
Committee is further concerned
that, owing to difficulties in enforcing existing
legislation in the State party, many women are unable to obtain a legal abortion
and are therefore forced to resort to an illegal abortion. The Committee is also
concerned at the lack of programmes that include
measures to raise
victims’ awareness of the importance of seeking medical treatment after a
sexual assault and reporting the
incident.

43. The Committee urges the State party to improve access to health
services for all women and in particular for the most vulnerable groups
of
women, such as indigenous, Afro- and Asian-descendant women. It also urges the
State party to adopt without delay effective measures
to resolve the problem of
the high rate of maternal mortality by guaranteeing adequate prenatal,
childbirth, and post-natal care
and ensuring access to health-care facilities
and medical assistance provided by trained workers in all parts of the country,
particularly
in rural areas. The Committee urges the State party to adopt
regulations aimed at enforcing existing legislation on women’s
right to
abortion and to give women access to high-quality services for the treatment of
complications resulting from unsafe abortions.
It invites the Ministry of Health
to undertake a thorough investigation or study of unsafe abortions and their
impact on women’s
health, in particular those resulting in maternal
mortality, which will serve as the basis for legislative and policy action. It
also urges the State party to facilitate a national dialogue on women’s
right to reproductive health, including on the consequences
of restrictive
abortion laws. It further recommends that the State party establish programmes
that include measures aimed at raising
victims’ awareness of the
importance of seeking medical treatment after an assault and reporting the
incident.

44. The Committee regrets the lack of information available on the issue of
HIV/AIDS, as well as on the apparent feminization of the
disease in the State
party, particularly among rural and indigenous women and girls.

45. The Committee calls on the State party to address the spread of
HIV/AIDS, including as a result of the power differential between
women and men,
which often prevents women from insisting on safe and responsible sex practices.
It encourages the State party to
strengthen its efforts to raise awareness and
educate women and girls about ways of protecting themselves from HIV/AIDS,
particularly
in rural areas. The Committee also urges the State party to ensure
that women and girls are accorded equal rights and access to HIV/AIDS
detection
and related health-care and social services. The Committee requests the State
party to provide information and gender-disaggregated
data on the issue of
HIV/AIDS in its next periodic report.

Vulnerable groups of women

46. While welcoming the State party’s initiatives and social programmes
aimed at empowering women living in extreme poverty,
the Committee is concerned
at the persistence of high levels of poverty and the social exclusion of women
in Panama, especially rural
and indigenous women, as well as obstacles
preventing them from enjoying basic rights.

47. The Committee urges the State party to strengthen initiatives aimed at
encouraging women’s economic empowerment, keeping in
mind the specific
situations of different groups of women. The Committee also encourages the State
party to establish mechanisms
to monitor regularly the impact of social and
economic policies on women.

48. The Committee regrets the lack of detailed information in relation to
vulnerable groups of women, such as refugee women, rural
women, older women,
women with disabilities and other women facing multiple forms of discrimination.

49. The State party is invited to provide comprehensive information and
statistical data, in its next periodic report, on the situation
of vulnerable
groups of women, including refugee women, rural women, older women, women with
disabilities and other women facing
multiple forms of discrimination.

Family relations

50. The Committee is very concerned that the Civil Code continues to contain
provisions that discriminate against women in the area
of family relations, in
particular with respect to the minimum age of marriage. The Committee regrets
that the State party has not
yet modified the very low minimum age of marriage,
which continues to be set at 14 for girls and 16 for boys, in contradiction with
article 16, paragraph 2, of the Convention, the Committee’s general
recommendation No. 21 and article 14 of the Convention
on the Rights of the
Child. It is also concerned that the equal sharing of marital property upon
divorce relates only to tangible
property (movable and immovable) and does not
include intangible property such as pension and savings funds.

51. In line with the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the
Child in its concluding observations on Panama at its thirty-sixth
session
(CRC/C/15/Add.233), the Committee calls upon the State party to eliminate
discriminatory legal provisions in matters relating
to family and marriage in
order to bring its legislation into line with the Convention. In particular, the
Committee urges the State
party to raise the minimum age of marriage for both
men and women to 18, in line with article 16, paragraph 2, of the Convention,
the Committee’s general recommendation No. 21 and article 14 of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child. It also recommends
that the State party
take the necessary legislative measures to recognize intangible property, such
as pension and savings funds,
as part of marital property.

Data collection and analysis

52. The Committee welcomes the national efforts to improve the system of data
collection and update gender indicators. However, it
regrets that these are not
fully integrated at the institutional level and that there are still gaps
regarding the analysis and use
of statistics on gender in the State party. The
Committee also regrets the lack of statistical information disaggregated by sex
in
many areas covered by the Convention.

53. The Committee recommends that the State party step up its efforts to
establish a comprehensive and unified system of sex-disaggregated
information in
all areas covered by the Convention. The Committee also recommends that the
State party include in its next report
statistical data and analysis,
disaggregated by sex and by rural and urban areas, indicating the impact of
measures taken and results
achieved in order to illustrate more comprehensively
the situation of women in several areas, in particular with respect to the issue
of violence. The Committee invites the State party to give special attention to
the collection of data in respect of the most vulnerable
groups of women,
including rural and indigenous women, migrant women and domestic workers,
particularly girls.

Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action

54. The Committee urges the State party to utilize fully, in the
implementation of its obligations under the Convention, the Beijing Declaration
and Platform for Action, which reinforce the provisions of the Convention, and
requests the State party to include information thereon
in its next periodic
report.

Millennium Development Goals

55. The Committee emphasizes that full and effective implementation of the
Convention is indispensable for achieving the Millennium Development
Goals. It
calls for the integration of a gender perspective and explicit reflection of the
provisions of the Convention in all efforts
aimed at the achievement of the
Goals and requests the State party to include information thereon in its next
periodic report.

Ratification of other treaties

56. The Committee notes that States’ adherence to the nine major
international human rights
instruments[1] enhances the
enjoyment by women of their human rights and fundamental freedoms in all aspects
of life. Therefore, the Committee encourages
the State party to ratify the
treaties to which it is not yet a party, namely, the International Convention on
the Protection of
the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons
from
Enforced Disappearance.

Dissemination of the concluding observations

57. The Committee requests the wide dissemination in Panama of the present
concluding observations in order to make the people, including
Government
officials, politicians and parliamentarians, and women’s and human rights
organizations, aware of the steps that
have been taken to ensure the de jure and
de facto equality of women, as well as the further steps that are required in
that regard.
The Committee requests the State party to continue to disseminate
widely, in particular to women’s and human rights organizations,
the
Convention, its Optional Protocol, the Committee’s general
recommendations, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
and the outcome
of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled
“Women 2000: gender equality, development
and peace for the twenty-first
century”.

Follow-up to concluding observations

58. The Committee requests the State party to provide, within two years,
written information on the steps undertaken to implement the
recommendations
contained in paragraphs 13 and 41 above. The Committee also requests the State
party to consider seeking technical
cooperation and assistance, including
advisory services, if necessary and when appropriate, for implementation of the
above recommendations.

Date of next report and reporting guidelines

59. The Committee requests the State party to respond to the concerns
expressed in the present concluding observations in its next periodic
report
under article 18 of the Convention. The Committee invites the State party to
submit its next periodic report in February 2014.

60. The Committee invites the State party to follow the harmonized
guidelines on reporting under the international human rights treaties,
including
guidelines on a common core document and treaty-specific documents, approved at
the fifth inter-committee meeting of the
human rights treaty bodies, in June
2006 (HRI/MC/2006/3 and Corr.1). The treaty-specific reporting guidelines
adopted by the Committee
at its fortieth session, in January 2008, must be
applied in conjunction with the harmonized reporting guidelines on a common core
document. Together, they constitute the harmonized guidelines on reporting under
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women.
The treaty-specific document should be limited to 40 pages, while the updated
common core document
should not exceed 6080 pages.

[1] The International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of
Discrimination against Women, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the
Convention on the Rights of
the Child, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All
Migrant Workers and Members
of Their Families, the Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities and the International Convention for the Protection
of
All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.